This week, the Total Pig tackles a list of local restaurant tidbits.
Tidbit No. 1: The chef from Santacafé bought Julian's.
Wayne Gustafson, who opened Julian's in Telluride, Colo., in 1980 and moved it to Santa Fe in 1989, has sold the business to chef David Sellers, formerly of Santacafé. Cooking, the 65-year-old Gustafson says, "is a young man's job. You've got to know when to pass the baton." He has not made concrete plans for the future, but he's pretty sure they don't include running another restaurant. "I'll probably never cook another meal for money," Gustafson says, his voice betraying a hint of glee. "All I really want to do is take the summer off and have a vacation." The elder chef says he is confident that his restaurant is being passed into good hands. He takes particular comfort in Sellers' assurance that he will keep most of the staff. "I've had employees who've been here 10 years," Gustafson says. "The reward for staying here 10 years shouldn't be, 'See ya!'"
To Sellers, the collective longevity of the staff was part of the restaurant's appeal. Julian's (221 Shelby St. 988-2355) will remain open for dinner through May. When Sellers takes over on June 1, he will close the restaurant for a week or so in order to do some deep cleaning, a minor update of the dining room and a little work in the kitchen. When it reopens, which he believes will be in mid-June, the place will be called Amavi. Sellers says the name is Latin for "love of life," and explains that the food will be regional Mediterranean, with equal parts French, Italian and Spanish influence. He plans to cook what he calls "super seasonal" food, including rustic housemade pastas and the French seafood stew called bouillabaisse. Like Julian's, Amavi will be open for dinner only.
Tidbit No. 2: Mark Miller is selling Coyote Café.
We've all been hearing this rumor for years, but it's finally happening for real. According to Tori Mendes, the restaurant's current manager, Miller is selling what she describes as an "operating partnership" to a group that includes Mendes and former Coyote employees. Because the deal has yet to take effect, Mendes is reluctant to talk about any specific details, but she does want to make it clear that Miller isn't selling Coyote outright; the "operating partnership" still leaves the restaurant's founding chef with a spoon in the pot. Mendes says the deal for the café (132 W. Water St., 983-1615) is expected to take effect during the first week of June. I promise to fill you all in once everything is in place and folks feel comfortable talking more.
Tidbit No. 3: The Scalo Group is out at Hotel St. Francis.
One of my colleagues noticed that mere weeks after I interviewed Luke Venner [Total Pig, March 21: "The New Guy"], the ambitious young chef who had taken over at the St. Francis (210 Don Gaspar Ave., 983-5700), both Venner's face and his menu were gone. Poof! Henrique Valdovinos, a restaurant consultant who joined the hotel on April 1, confirms that the Albuquerque-based Scalo group, which had contracted to run the food service at the hotel, is no longer there. Within the next few months, Valdovinos says, we can expect a new
announcement regarding the future of food at the hotel. "It's going to be very much attached to the historical presence of the hotel," he explains, adding that the food will recognize the area's New Mexican heritage "without falling into the New Mexican restaurant trap." By that I think he means the gummy enchilada casseroles so often dished out at lesser establishments.
Tidbit No. 5: The Cheesecraft lady left The Compound.
More importantly, Kim Müller left The Compound to take over the kitchen at La Mancha, the restaurant at the Galisteo Inn. Müller, who founded the Santa Fe cheese company Cheesecraft, also is very active in the Santa Fe chapter of Slow Foods. She is focusing on incorporating local meat and produce to offer a seasonally based menu at the bucolic inn.
Tidbit No. 6: The Pink Adobe is changing hands.
Rosalea Murphy's grandson, Joseph Hoback, sold his family's restaurant to David and Christie Garrett of the Garrett Hotel Group. The Garretts bought the restaurant to match their hotel, Inn of the Five Graces. The Pink Adobe (406 Old Santa Fe Trail, 983-7712) shares a courtyard with the inn, which does not have a restaurant. Make that
did
not. The Pink closed on May 7 and will undergo renovations until mid-June. When it reopens, the restaurant will have an updated menu; the Dragon Room will have a tapas menu and a carefully selected wine list.
Tidbit No. 7: Geronimo has not been sold.
Drop it, people! Please stop e-mailing me and asking me to confirm this rumor. At this point, I've got Cliff Skoglund's number on speed dial and he is tired of hearing my voice! (Actually, Skoglund, Geronimo's [724 Canyon Road, 982-1500] co-owner, has been quite good-humored about the whole thing.) As of May 11, 2007 at 10:30 am, Skoglund says, again, "Geronimo is not sold, is not selling, is not on the market." He says he's putting thousands of dollars into an interior renovation and that the restaurant "is doing better than it has ever done." So give it a rest, OK?
Tell me where to eat! I need your input. Send all of your tips, gripes and raves to
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